By Matt Arado Daily Herald Staff. (retrieved from http://dailyherald.com/story/?id=251777&src=3)]
"One of President Bush's most noteworthy accomplishments - the No Child Left Behind law enacted in 2002 - might undergo some fundamental changes when President-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Obama said during the presidential campaign that while he supports the law's overall goal, he believes the program needs fixing.
Obama has called for an additional $18 billion to be invested in the nation's schools, in part to help school districts meet the law's expectations. He also called for new assessments that track students' progress over time, rather than relying on the results of a single standardized test…"
[excerpt taken from: Adequate Yearly Progress Report 2008 (Interactive Illinois Report Card)
NORTH CHICAGO COMMUNITY HIGH SCH - NORTH CHICAGO SD 187]
"-Question 1: Is this School making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)?
Answer: No
-Question 2: Is this School making AYP in Reading?
Answer: No
-Question 3: Is this School making AYP in Mathematics?
Answer: No
-Question 4: Has this School been identified for School Improvement according to the AYP specifications of the federal No Child Left Behind Act?
Answer: Yes"
So what?
We do not have to wait to see if Barack Obama will scrap No Child Left Behind before we decide to lend a helping hand in a way that is pleasing to God and nurturing for his children.
North Chicago Community High School is approximately 19 minutes or 12.5 miles away from Trinity’s campus. The wealth of our immediate surrounding is not what one would find 12 miles north of here in North Chicago. Some statistics suggest that North Chicago is one of the most financially underprivileged communities in the greater Chicago-land area with one of the worst school districts.
Faith Alive is in the process of developing partnerships so that we can have some sort of effective and lasting ministry in North Chicago, Waukegan, and/or Elgin. Several churches in Lake County have adopted schools and are serving as a resource for these schools by way of mentorship and maintenance of the schools. The statistics above suggest that North Chicago Community High School needs help. Focusing on just this one school, I have a question for the Trinity community. What could we do to help? Is there some way that we could use the intelligence that God has blessed us with to positively impact children of North Chicago? What is stopping us from adopting a school?
4 comments:
I think that would be a great idea to adopt a school man! I would agree with you that not a lot of people think that the north suburbs are underprivileged.
Mentorship to a child, though in the context of education, is discipleship to some degree. Though we would not be directly proselytizing to the youth in these schools, our faith and character cannot help but come through in our conduct. Passing on godly characteristics can still be seen as a way of discipleship to make a difference in the lives of youth. Of course, granted, the Word of God could be preached too, then the full gamut of transformation could be seen.
Did I tell you about my organization yet? GRIP Outreach For Youth? Check out their website. I wonder if there is a way that we could talk to them and ask what could be done in the north burbs? All GRIP does is reach out to underprivileged, at-risk youth, mostly from the projects. I'm sure the youth in the north burbs can at least relate a bit and face similar, though still different, issues and problems at their schools.
Thanks for posting this Damien!
Chris-
Thanks for your comments. I was thinking mostly about us tutoring when I posed my question, but you've taken it to another level man. Mentorship, as you stated, is a form of discipleship and discipleship is what we, as Christians, should be about.
I'm excited to hear what other people of the Trinity community have to say as we collectively ponder with this idea.
I will check GRIP out and talk to you about it.
Peace
CV
I really enjoyed reading your posts. Today, I woke up to an interview with a guy from Oakdale church in Chicago, talking about their tutoring program. It sounded amazing! The sustained impact they have in their community through volunteer tutoring is both admirable and inspiring.
What a tangible way to invest long term in a person's life, passing on not only school education but life values. I agree with you both, this is a high impact area for disciples of Christ to be salt and light in the community.
I'd love to learn more about these programs for future church ministry philosophy. What are some good places to learn more about it?
If I understand it correctly, the burgeoning "Missional Leadership" model promotes the idea of ministering to the culture in a way that does not compromise Conservative Christian (Biblical) convictions. Put another way, missionaries can not go to communities with a "cookie cutter" plan and expect it be effective in all places at all times.
Instead, ministers of God's word, (viz. servants of God's people) have to "hit the streets" to learn how they can best address the needs of their "mission fields."
I am starting to think that hitting the street is the best way to gather qualitative and/or quantitative data needed to understand the needs of a given community and to formulate methods to address said needs.
Why do I say all of this? I think if we really want to impact these areas in a substantial way, we must "hit the streets." We gotta talk to people, we gotta share life with people, we gotta love on folks.
At this point, I think this would be better than any book that could be read, website to be viewed, or statistic to be made aware of.
Thoughts/ Concerns/ Insights ?
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